The company had given the single-use $15 voucher to customers
who spent $65 or more in any of its on-line or off-line shops or
over the phone during August and September. The voucher had no
minimum purchase requirement and customers had to provide the
voucher's code if ordering on-line or by phone.
However, it appears that Disney used only two codes on all the
gift certificates and took no technical measures to prevent
customers from using their coupon more than once or passing the
code to other people.
Over the weekend, orders were four times higher than normal as
Disney's promotion backfired. After discovering that the order
volume was so high, the company discovered that the voucher codes
were being passed around on shopping discussion sites. It stopped
automatically accepting the voucher and posted a notice on its site
requiring consumers to e-mail the company after placing their
orders.
According to CNet, Disney will not charge full price to
consumers who used the voucher to order goods before it placed the
notice on its web site, but said all other customers would have to
pay the full price. The company is apparently examining the orders
to determine which ones it deems to be legitimate.
